The Arizona sentinel., 1887-01-22

with the corners rounded of; large dowel-rods will do for the cross cleats. They can be had ready-made from cabinet-makers or dealers in hardwood lumber. The seven cleats are as long as the toboggan is wide, and the two side-rails are each feet 6 inches long. Leather thongs are easiest found at the shOe-makers'. Porpoise leather shoe-strings or strips of rawhide are best; but any sound leather will do.
 Lay the boards side by side on the floor, and lay the cleats in position, No. 1 being about an inch from the after end and the rest at intervals of foot to No. Qeave No. 2 for the present). Mark the positions of the cleats on the board with a pencil. and make dots where the thong-holes are to come four holes at the ends of the cleats and two at the edges of the boards where the cleats cross the cracks. The holes at the ends of the cfeats should not be nearer than three-fourths of an inch to the edges of the boards. Those at the cracks may be half an inch from the edges. Bore the holes large enough for the thongs to pass through easily. Then turn the board over and cut q shallow groove lengthwise of the grain between each pair of holes, so that the thongs will be ''countersunk, or even with the under surface. After this has been done, lash the cleats in posi- ton, beginning with the inner holes and leaving the side rails till last Be care fuI to round off all corners where the thongs bear upon them. Cut shallow notches at the ends of the cleats where the side-rails rest, and lash them firmly in place. The side-rails should reach only trifle beyond cleat No. 5. Lash No in position on the under side of the toboggan at the fore end.
 It now remains to bend the boards. This is easiest done by steaming them over or soaking them in, very hot water, and bending them before lash ing the toboggan together. But it can be done after the flashing by fastening double cords around cleats Nos. 5 and z, and twisting with a stick until the ends are bent over as far as required. These cords are usually left in place, the sticks and the extra twist being re- moved after the wood has dried. The toboggan is now complete, with the ex- ception of. the hand-line, which is fastened to the ends of cleat No. 6.
 A toboggan constructed on the h. dian plan is somewhat loose-jointed, but it is none the worse for that. If preferred, the builder may use copper wire for laSnil-gz;5, or may disIGnSe1 with lashings altogether and B
 screws or clinch-nails. Machine-niade toboggans of excellent quality, fitted with cushions and all the luxuries of the season, are now largely manufac- tured in the United States and Canada; but homemade article is far more satisfactory than any thing that can be bought. With such a craft the snow fields may be navigated in any direc- ton down hill, even when the crust is not strong enough to bear foot pass enger, or even when there is no crust at all. Steering is done either with the feet or with short sticks held out in each hand.
 Toboggans are made ten or twelve feet long-long enough to carry six or eight passengers; but they are built precisely like the smaller specimens, being merely heightened, with an ad- ditional cross-cleat at every extra foot, and need not be described here.- Charles Ledyard Norton, t's Inter Ocean.